


The Chain

by debbiedoanything



Category: Dead To Me (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26164792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debbiedoanything/pseuds/debbiedoanything
Summary: Jen just got divorced. She finds her old high school ex-girlfriend's profile on Facebook and sends a friend request.orCharlie makes a friend at a playground, and they come with a plan to see their moms happy.
Relationships: Judy Hale & Jen Harding, Judy Hale/Jen Harding
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	The Chain

**Author's Note:**

> This AU takes place 10 years before season one. I do not own Dead to Me or any of its characters, but I do own Jade. (also I know that Frozen was released in 2013 but I took an artistic license because I just had to use that metaphor lmao)

Jen didn't like malls. Sure, she liked shopping, and malls usually had nice restaurants. Besides, seeing people, in general, was good for her. That part wasn't bad. She actually loved it.

But she fucking hated that goddamn playground.

Even in another country, she didn't have much of a choice besides going there. The 5-year-old boy holding her hand while she walked wouldn't say otherwise.

And Jen did it because she would do anything for her son. He went through tough times with his dad, and now she only wanted Charlie to be happy. God, she only wanted herself to be happy.

They were spending a month in Florence, Italy. Jen had decided that they needed a vacation, so she could think about how she was going to start rebuilding her life. Her divorce with Ted hasn't been friendly, but she never expected it to be, after all.

At least now she was free and could live her life as she chose to.

Jen felt Charlie's hand let go of hers, and when she saw he was already playing with other kids in the giant trampoline. That scene warmed her heart. Seeing that little boy happy was all that mattered for her.

God, she only wanted to be happy.

After a few minutes, she became tired of just standing there watching him. She loved her son but playgrounds definitely weren't her thing. So she looked for a bench, or anywhere she could sit and took her iPhone out of her purse.

“Okay... Nothing new here.” Jen murmured to herself after she saw a few messages. Most of them were from Christopher asking if she was already interested in some Italian girl.

No offense, but the last thing she wanted was to have a double date with Christopher and his boyfriend. The guy was insufferably boring. She couldn't understand what Christopher saw on him, and besides that, she wasn't really in the mood for dating anyone.

Spending ten years in a marriage with someone she didn't love had been enough for her. Sure, both of them had had their flings, but Jen decided that she was officially done with the love thing.

x

Charlie quickly became tired of the trampoline. He went to where his mom was sitting and asked for money to go to the arcade, which she gave to him. Jen gave him so much money that he could play with all the games and a few coins would remain.

And then he went to the arcade, traded his coins for tokens, and started looking for a game he liked. That part of the playground wasn't full, so he could play with whatever he chose.

After he played all the games for his age and earned a lot of tickets, Charlie decided to explore the other part of the arcade with games for older kids. He knew how much his mom hated playgrounds and if she saw him without doing nothing they would come back to the hotel.

He finally decided on some spaceship game that seemed very hard for a 5-year-old boy, but he didn't care. Charlie was about to insert his token on the machine when a blonde girl came running from nowhere, bumping into him, which caused him to drop his token.

Both kids fell on the floor, but she got up faster than him and inserted her own token in the machine.

“Hey, I was going to play!” Charlie exclaimed, frustrated.

“You snooze, you lose.” The girl stuck her tongue out at him and then moved her attention to the game.

“I didn't sneeze, you dingbat!” They were about to start a fight when one of the playground's monitors saw what was happening and came to intervene.

“Hey, this is a two-player game. You two can play it.” Then, the monitor inserted Charlie's token on the other side of the machine and walked away.

“I bet I'm gonna win.” The girl said with a heavy accent. Charlie didn't know where she was from, but he could say that she wasn't American.

“You wish.” Then, the game started.

Charlie was pretty good in the game, but he just couldn't beat the girl's score, and after a few rounds of shooting spaceships, he lost.

“Told you I was gonna win.” She said with a smirk. “But you were pretty good tho. It was hard to beat your score.”

“Thanks. I'm Charlie, by the way.” He offered his hand while she collected the tickets she won from the floor.

“I'm Jade.” She squeezed his hand, and they started walking through the arcade looking for another game to play. “How old are you?”

“I'm five, almost six. Only three months until my birthday.” Charlie was pretty tall for his age, someone could say he was seven looking by his height.

“Cool! I'm five too. My birthday was last week. I'm a Scorpio.” She said proudly. Then they saw a Just Dance platform, shared a look, and ran together to play.

“What's a Scorpio?” He asked, inserting two tokens to start the game.

“It's when a person is born between the end of October and the end of November.” The speakers started to play the first notes of 'Firework' by Katy Perry while they prepared for the dance.

“Oh. So my mom's a Scorpio too, then.” Both of them were imitating the character of the game, but the dance was running as smoothly as two 5-year-olds could do.

“Mine is an Aquarium. She loves these astrology things, so she taught me the basics.” They started to spin around the platform when the chorus began.

“Where are you from? You have this funny accent, so you're not American.” He asked curiously.

“I'm from Austria, but my mom and I are always moving to another country because of her job. It's been like that since I was born.” She said, her voice suddenly showing a hint of sadness.

“Wow, that sucks. So you're living here in Italy?” Charlie asked, feeling bad for his new friend. He didn't like any changes. It was pretty difficult for him when his father moved out, even if he wasn't good for him and his mom.

“No, we're only on vacation now. I think we're moving to the USA after that.” Jade was winning again, but Charlie's score trespassed hers. The boy had a natural talent for dancing, and Jade wonders where that came from.

“Nice. My mom and I live there. And my dad too, but I never wanna see him again.” This time, the game ended with Charlie winning. He smirked at her, earning an irritated look from her.

“Why you don't wanna see your daddy?” Charlie picked up his tickets and started counting how many he won.

“He was very mean to my mom because she likes girls. At least that was what she said to me.” He shuddered. “Wanna play again?”

“Yes, but it's my turn to choose the song.” Jade gave him two of her tokens. “And what do you mean 'she likes girls'?”

“You know when Sleeping Beauty marries that prince at the end of the story? If my mom was Sleeping Beauty, she would marry Elsa instead. There is a word for that but I forgot what it is.” Charlie explained while Jade used the Wii control to start a game with the censored version of 'California Gurls'.

“Well, now that you said...” Jade thought about it for a few seconds. “I think my mom would like other princesses too.”

And then Charlie's little mind started to connect some dots. He wanted to see his mom happy, so why not find a princess for her?

Sure, it was a risky plan. Jen would be mad as fuck if she finds out. But Jade was pretty, funny, and smart, so her mom should be all of that too.

“What does your mom look like?” He asked while repeating the dance moves that appeared on the big screen.

“She's awesome! We don't look alike, but she's gorgeous. And smart. Why you ask?” A mischievous smile appeared on Charlie's face as he heard the description. She was perfect for his mom.

The game ended with a tie. They gathered all their tickets together and traded for two giant Minion plush toys. After that, they went to the trampoline and finally ended up sitting together on a bench.

“I had fun with you today, Char. You were like a big brother!” Jade said as she hugged her Minion.

“Yeah, I wish you were my little sister. My friend has one, and he always says that she's annoying, but I like to play with you.” Charlie smiled at her.

“It's sad that we're never gonna see each other again.” She looked at the floor, melancholy present in her voice tone.

“No! Hear me out, J. I think I have a plan...”

x

Charlie interrupted her thoughts when he came to her asking for money, and she just shoved her hand inside her purse and gave him whatever she grabbed. Money wasn't a problem for her after she got promoted last year. Working for her bitchy ex-mother-in-law at the time had its vantages, after all. She just warned him to be where she could see and not leave the playground.

“What a great fucking mom you are leaving your son alone...” Jen said to herself before she stood up and sat on another bench, this time closer to where Charlie was.

After answering Christopher using more rudeness than necessary, she started to navigate through Facebook. It had been a few days since she found some old high school friends and began talking with them on the Internet. That kind of distracted her from the divorce.

She was scrolling down her friend's Susie page as fast as her iPhone 4 was allowing her when she saw something... interesting.

Susie had posted a photo two weeks ago accompanied by a very familiar brunette. They seemed to be in an airport's restaurant since there was a suitcase near their table.

'Bumped into Judy at the airport today. I always have a good time when I'm with you, my friend! ;)' Jen read mentally the caption while zooming the picture in. Fuck, she needed glasses with urgency.

And then she realized.

Oh my God, was that... Judy Hale?

She couldn't believe her eyes.

Jen opened Judy's profile right away. She was surprised to see that Judy was a renowned painter now. But not so surprised, since Judy was already a great artist when they met.

Scrolling down the 'Gallery' section, she saw some photos of a little girl and smiled. Judy was a mother now, just like she's always wanted to be. And the kid seemed so happy!

Involuntarily, Jen held the Topaz pendant resting in her neck. It was originally from a string necklace, but after a few years, she bought a sterling silver necklace especially for that pendant. It had been a gift from Judy when they completed six months together, a little before Jen went to college and their break-up. Judy loved that Astrology bullshit and said to Jen that Topaz was her birthstone since she was a Scorpio.

“It's for you to always have a part of me, wherever you go.”

God, she needed to stop thinking about Judy. It wasn't the first time her mind wandered into those memories later, and that wasn't healthy. She hadn't seen the woman in twenty years, Judy was probably married with children now. Or not, because she always said she would never get married.

Jen started looking for a wedding band in Judy's pictures, but she didn't saw any. Sometimes she would wear a few hippie rings, but that was it.

'But that doesn't mean she's single, you idiot.' She thought. Jen wasn't much of a positive person, but when it came to Judy she always tried to hope for the best.

Their precious moments together started to resurface in her mind, and then she realized. The moment she last saw Judy was, perhaps, the last time she was really happy. And that awoke confidence that Jen didn't know she had. So, when she realized, her finger already had clicked on the 'Send Friend Request' button.

What the fuck?

She closed the Facebook app and locked the screen in record time as if this would undo what she had done. A million questions started to pop up in Jen's mind. 'What if Judy doesn't remember me?' or 'Is she even going to accept the friend request?' were some of them. Jen unlocked her phone again when she saw the clock marking 7 pm. Great, time to leave.

She whistled loudly to call Charlie, and he came running, his face red and sweaty after spending the afternoon playing with Jade.

“We have to go to the hotel, buddy. It's late.” She ran her fingers over her son's caramel hair.

“Can I say bye to my new friend?” He pointed at Jade, that waved at her.

“Yeah, sure.” She shrugged, not paying much attention to the blonde girl.

Charlie ran to where she was, they did a quick repass on the plan and hugged each other goodbye.

“See you tomorrow.” She whispered. Jade was tired too, so she left and started looking for where her mom was sitting.

“See ya.” He waved one last time.

Jen called a cab, and they had a silent trip to the hotel. She liked to be on vacation, but after she and Charlie visited all the tourist attractions in Florence and spent a lot of money shopping, they were running out of things to do, which meant that Jen needed to start planning their comeback to the USA. 

And that was what she was afraid of.

**Author's Note:**

> reviews are appreciated! <3


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